Goodbye to some of the engines we know and loved?

From what I heard GM is discontinuing some of there engines that have been around for awhile and replacing them with a different engine family. From what I remember they are stopping production of there 4.3l, 4.8l, 5.3l and there might be another one I can remember, for the 2014 mode year. But they are being replaced by new Ecotec3 engines that use nearly identical displacement but are in no way the same engine. They will be all aluminum engines that will have cylinder cutoff for better fuel efficiency. They are making these engines still in the 4.3l, 5.3l, and 6.2l but have nothing in common with the old engines. Kind of bums me out a little because I was a huge fan of the cast iron 4.3l. But the new engines do seem pretty cool and even the 4.3l engine is supposed to make huge horsepower for its size.

You are correct the Vortec engine's are being replaced with new EcoTec small blocks. They will all be aluminum and come in 4.3l, 5.3l and 6.2. each will have significant horse power and torque increases and better MPG than the Vortec engines. We know that the 6.2l will put out about 30-40 more HP and torque than the current one it is rated at about 450 HP and 450 ft lb.

I personally didn't buy a new V6 Camaro because of the AFM DOD junk, that is a huge turnoff for me. If that's what the truck market is coming to, then I won't EVER buy another new truck. I will rebuild my 6.0 until It can't be bored out any more.

Nature of the beast at this point. GM has been cycling through this for a while now, just took longer to get to the truck motors. They phased out the 3800s in 2008 (first gasoline motor in the industry to acheive SULEV standards and one of the 10 best motors of all time) and only a year or two later phased out the last of the older 60* V6 family (ironically the ones that replaced the 3800 in some applications 2-3 years prior) in favor of the "High Feature V6 (which is also a 60* motor but uses a different bellhousing).

Never did understand why they couldn't have used existing bellhousing bolt patterns when they replaced an existing motor though. I would think that would have decreased costs.

Wouldn't surprise me if they come up with a different bellhousing bolt pattern for these new motors as well. That seems to be their pattern. I am glad that, at least in this case, they don't seem to be decreasing torque in favor of horsepower. Even the 3.5 and 3.9 that initially replaced the 3800s in most applications made far less torque and the same or (in the case of the 3900) less hp than the motors they replaced (3.5 replaced the N/A 3800 and the 3.9 replaced the SC 3800), with only marginal gains in fuel efficiency and emissions. Even the 3.6 used now still makes less torque (and less than 30 more hp) than the Supercharged 3800s, while fuel efficiency is not much better. I know the trendy thing is to go away from OHV motors, but those 3800s were one of the most bulletproof motors out there. Not to mention my 04 Monte Carlo SS Supercharged made more power AND got 6-7 more mpg than my mom's 08 Toyota Camry V6 gets.

They initially wanted to phase out the 3800 10 years prior, but due to outcry from both customers and investors, they extended it.

These new truck motors do seem to be pretty good though, especially the 4.3 compared to the old one. I just hope they at least keep the manual transmission available. And while they're at it, do away completely with the 5cyl for their smaller trucks and just use that V6. I never understood the purpose of that I5. If they were deadset on an Atlas motor, the 4.2 I6 would have been a great powerplant for the Colorados/Canyons.

Excuse the bias towards the 3800s, I've had an even better experiences with them than I have with the old small block V8s (which is really saying something). Best motors I have ever owned.

Right now it does not bother me a bit, as long as they have identified and fixed the lifter and oil leakage problems on the vortec 5.3L's and fixed them in this new design, then again. This will be the last gas powered truck I own, so I guess it won't matter.

I still haven't figured out how the cylinders wear evenly with AFM leading to allot of the problems we are seeing in every day use. What ever it takes afm needs to disappear till it really works.

I thought the gas 2014's are moving to an 8 speed transmission? which should be nice if the bugs are worked out. I hope the next allison 1000 is an 8 or 10 speed.

I personally didn't buy a new V6 Camaro because of the AFM DOD junk, that is a huge turnoff for me. If that's what the truck market is coming to, then I won't EVER buy another new truck. I will rebuild my 6.0 until It can't be bored out any more.

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I understand what you mean, TRPLXL2! I like learning about how this technology works, but I don't want it on my truck! This new technology works great new, but it's expensive to replace electronic equipment when it (and it will eventually) goes bad or malfunctions. Then again, any repair is expensive.
One way to look at it though, the only way to improve efficiency and reliability is to experiment with new equipment. However, I believe that it's human for us to want to resist change. Like some of the old timers in my life have told me, "Sonny boy, if ain't BROKE, then DON'T fix it!!! Or in other words, "Why get rid of something that works fine?"
Looking at this from the manufacturer's point of view, no matter what they do, they won't be able to satisfy everyone. That's just part of life.
Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention, Crispyt. This was an interesting post to read.